Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

Sep 29, 2011

Proposed PETA ad after Florida shark attack sparks outrage

A proposed billboard ad by PETA in the aftermath of a shark attack on a 21-year-old Florida spearfisherman is not sitting well with the victim's mother, who described PETA's response to the attack as "over the top."

The ad (pictured at right) shows a bloody leg protruding from the mouth of a menacing shark and features the slogan, "PAYBACK IS HELL, Go Vegan."

C.J. Wickersham, who is believed to have been bitten by a bull shark last Saturday off Anna Maria Island, is in stable condition after having had 800 stitches placed in his left thigh.

PETA reportedly is still trying to find a home in Florida for the ad.

Ella Wickersham, C.J.'s mother, told FoxNews.com, "I'm not even going to dignify them with a response. They are over the top. If they don't want to eat meat and fish, good for them; you can do whatever you want, and I'll do what I want."

The same story quoted PETA spokeswoman Ashley Byrne as saying the animal rights group is still seeking suitable locations for the billboard. "With the shark attack in the news, we thought it'd be a good time to remind people that sharks are not the world's biggest predator -- we are."

Of the injured spearfisherman Byrne added, "We're glad that Mr. Wickersham is going to be OK [but] we hope that after this experience he considers the pain and terror that fish feel when they're impaled and suffocated to death."

Comments

I find it humorous PETA-folk are in an uproar over a clever Snickers' commercial recounting human predation (e.g., "Steve was delicious"), and now, in notable irony, PETA's detractors take moral offense to a clever PETA ad depicting human predation.

"Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts." - Emerson

Ah me, look at the bright side. At least people see the virtue in avoiding Shark Fin Soup to help save the world.

"Why are you doing it? What can you buy that you can't already afford?
The future, Mr Gittes, the future." - Robert Towne